Toy car coupling with forked detent



March 13, 1956 L. G. KASTNER ET AL TOY CAR COUPLING WITH FORKED DETENT Filed Oct. 9, 1950 |N\I!ENTOR5 552 mac a I Q, I I BY $1 f ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,7ss,oso any can COUPLING WITH EORKED .nurnNT Ledyard. G. Kasmer, New York, N. Y., and GabrieLR. .MOIIEICO, New Haven, Conn., .assignors .to The A. C.

'iGilbiert .Company, New Haven, Conn a corporation d j Ihis invention relates to couplings fortoy railway cars that differ from the common variety of couplings .ofminiature .size by more closely resembling certain'characteristics of actual full-size couplings in realsrailway use. Realism as well as low cost is a valuable sales .asset in the modern fittingsand equipment of toy railway. rolling stock. The present invention not only increases .realism' with lowered cost but also provides various operating advantages hereinafter explained.

Toy miniature train couplings as heretofore proposed have customarily departed from the use.of-mutually:interengaging .hook structures that swing horizontally on a vertical axis, which arrangement is common practice in actual railroading. For need of greater ease-in tripping and the facility for cheap quantity production iii-miniature sizes, toy'car coupling devices are usually-made'toswing upward and downward about a horizontal pivot axis in their movements to mutually engage and disengage.

It is an object of this invention to make use-inna-toy miniature coupling ofa swingable knuckle of solidblock like character serving as the only requisitemovable part for effecting hooking engagement with' a like swingable knuckle of a mating coupling on an adjacent car.

Itisa, further object to cause a miniature coupling knuckle of this character to be locked and unlocked by anwextremely simple and inexpensive form of detent capable of releasing action by simple tripping means for uncoupling the cars whether such'tripping means be of mechani'cal or magnetic nature and'wh'ether the tripping means are carried by the toy train or lie in a stationary location beside or between the track rails.

"It is a further object to make the knuckle-locking detent lightly sensitive to an actuating force capable of 'shifting it to unlocked position. This enables the source offtri'pping action, when stationed for instance on theroad bed, to be passed over freely by the cars of .a toy train-withbut minimum retarding resistance.

A further object is to provide the locking detent with a vertical slide bearing sufliciently elongated to guide vertical shifting movements of the detent in a ste'ady manner and to prevent it dependably from becoming jammed or coeked when subjected to sidewise acting forces. such as tripping cam-action, in order that the detent mayalways ot a it n A further object is to make the locking detentidepenclcurve, and to insure freedom of the coupling head to swing befree to fall easily into locking position by the ltorce scription of a preferred embodiment of' the invention having reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l-is aperspective view'of one end'of a toy railway car equipped with a couplingincorporating the present improvements.

Fig. 2is a plan-viewdrawn-larger than actual size taken .partly imsection on the planed-'2 in'Fig. 4 showing two of the couplings ofFigJl having their movable par-tsjconditioned as when the couplingsare mutually approaching and about to hook therriselves together automatically.

Fig. 3 is a-plan view-takenpaljtly insection ontheplane 3.3 in Fig. 5 showing-1W0 mating knuckles fully'hooked together to form -a draft coupling between cars.

Fig. 4 is an elevation taken "partly in sectionon the plane in Fig. 2 showing the couplings positioned as in Fig. 2. i

Fig. 5 is an elevation taken partly in section on the plane.55 in'Fig. 3showing the couplings positioned as inFig. 3.

.Fig. 6 is a view takenin section onthe planed-6 in Fig. .4 lookingin the direction of the arrows.

, Fig. 7 is a view taken in sectionon the plane. 77 in Fig. 5 looking in the direction of't'he arrows;

:Fig. .8 is, aiperspective view drawn on a still further enlarged scale showing oneoftheknuckles removed from itscoupling head.

In the drawings the coupler-shank 12 is pivotally mounted on the chassis'of'a' toy car 13 so as to swing in a.-horizontal arc at its end which protrudesfrom the car, preferably about the same-vertical axis about. which the wheel .truck- 15 swivels relativelyto the car body 17. Pivoted for up-and-down swinging motion about the horizontal axis of a screw stud {4 at the terminal of shank 12 is the hollow draw'head 16' haying the anchorage boss 18 with whichshoulder-screw -14 isfi n tight threaded engagement. Head 16 is 'bifurcate in plan view affording at one of its sides vertically spacedhinge brackets 20 and at the other of :it-s-sides-the camrning spur 22 Spurs, 22 of mating couplings cooperate in determining the automatic mutual hooking actionof the knuckles 2.4 when shoved together by the approaching movement of the toy cars to be coupled thereby especially when cars are an,- gularly-related on a track curve. 7

Knuckles 24 are alike, each consisting of a solid bell crank body affording by it-s' contoursa projecting hook 26 at one end and a lockablekeeper 28 at the other end. Keeper 28' comprises a vertically thick portion 30 of the knuckle which adjoins a thin portion 32 forming the floor of a recess 34 that thus has the effect-of being sunk in the thick portion 30. The contours of knuckle 2.4. further provide another recess '36 accommodating a coil, 38 of spring wire best shown in "Figs. 2 and 3fas loosely surrounding a verticalpivot pin-'40 that spans the space between hinge brackets 20-and is fixedly lodged therein. Knuckle 24 swings freely on pivot pin All which pin extends through a'bearing hole 42 in the. former.

44 i spring 3. b r ain t knuck e 4 n it e s n the b hi pt s nd 6 b ar a ains t inside of a side wall 48 of' the hollowdraw head l6. A, stop surface 50 on knuckle 24 abuts against side wall 48 and limits the counterclockwise swinging movement of the knuckle to its position shown in Fig. 3. Normally, however, spring 38 urges knuckle 24 clockwise to its position shown in Fig. 2 wherein another stop surface 52 on knuckle 24 abuts against the upright terminal edge of side wall 48 of the draw head.

For positively locking the knuckle in its position shown in Fig. 3, against the tension in spring 38, there is provided a simplified form of multi-armed detent 54 comprising a plain piece of stiff wire bent to an inverted U-shape having one branch 60 serving as an actuatable arm vertically slidable in an elongated bearing afiorded by a boss 58 upstanding from the top of the hollow draw head 16 and having another branch 56 serving as a barrier arm freely slidable in vertically aligned bearing holes in the top and bottom walls 62 and 64, respectively, of draw head 16. Branch arm 56 acts as a guided barrier arm and will hold the knuckle in a locked position. On the bottom of the wire branch 60 is fixed a camming shoe 66 whose weight in addition to that of the bent wire detent is the sole force urging the detent 54 to drop to its locking position shown in Figs. 5 and 7 where the bottom end of wire branch 56 rests on the recess floor 32 thus serving as a barrier to retain knuckle 24 in its position in Fig. 5 and preventing spring 38 from swinging it to the position in Fig. 2. This positively maintains the knuckle hooks 26 of mating couplings lockingly inter-engaged until detent 54 is lifted to its knuckle-releasing position as in Fig. 4 where the bottom end of wire branch 56 rests lightly on the top surface of the thick portion 30 of keeper 28.

In operation when the ends of two cars come together, the farthest projecting end of each of hooks 26 thrusts simultaneously against the camming surface 65 of the keeper end 24 of the knuckle on the opposite coupling and this swings each knuckle against the light tension of spring 38 counterclockwise to the position in Fig. 3 whereupon each detent 54 drops into recess 34, thus locking both knuckles in hooked relation.

When in the travel of the toy train along its tracks the cam shoe 66 or other responsive element of the detent encounters a tripping agent such as short cam rail 63 stationed in or near its path between the track rails, it passes such agent without appreciably resisting train travel. In the case of cam rail 63, shoe 66 rides up over the latter which temporarily lifts wire branch 56 out of keeper recess 34 and releases the knuckle 24 for swinging movement relatively to draw head 16, whereupon spring 38 snaps the knuckle to its hook-disengaging position in Fig. 2. Here it remains until. two cars are again shoved together for the automatic coupling operation before-described. Detent 54 cannot again drop into knuckle-locking position as in Fig. 5 until another automatic coupling action of the knuckle has taken place but is always ready to do so at that time.

The tripping agent 63 may take the form of track carried shiftable cams as disclosed in U. S. Patents Nos.

2,240,137, or 1,499,638, which can be shifted by an electromagnet between tripping and non-tripping positions as proposed in U. S. Patent No. 1,989,804, or the coupling may be tripped by direct electromagnetic attraction upward of detent 54 if the latter be of ferrous metal or carry an armature of such material. For the latter purpose an electromagnet may be carried by the car or on the draw head 16 in position to exert the detent releasing electromagnetic attraction at will. Also shoe 66 if magnetically polarized may be raised by magnetic repulsion when brought by train travel into close passing proximity to a permanent magnet or an electromagnet suitably stationed on the track bed between the rails, and thus activated to release knuckle 24 for uncoupling action. A cam rail such as 63 may be elongated in the direction of train travel to an extent enabling it to hold both detent shoes 66, 66 raised at the same time.

We claim:

1. A coupling for miniature cars of a toy railroad train making possible the uncoupling of cars by actuation of the coupling at the roadbed of the railroad, comprising in combination, a hollow draw head projecting endwise from the car, a hooked coupling knuckle carried at least partially within the hollow of said draw head, a vertical pivot pin anchoring said knuckle to swing horizontally in such relation to said draw head that said pivot pin withstands and transmits to said draw head the major part of the train hauling force transmitted by the coupling from car to car, and a multiple armed detent mounted to slide vertically in said draw head including a barrier arm retractably located in the path of swinging movement of said knuckle about said pivot pin and in such relation thereto that only a minor portion of said car hauling force is transmitted to said barrier arm, said detent also including a release arm laterally spaced from said barrier arm having a liftable terminal riding below said draw head in proximity to the roadbed.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, in which the said terminal of the said release arm presents a surface that is cam-shaped in relation to its path of riding travel along the said roadbed.

3. The combination with a coupling as defined in claim 1, of a roadbed extending along the course of travel of the said cars, and a tripping agent stationed on said roadbed in the path of riding travel of the said terminal of the said release arm.

4. The combination defined in claim 3, in which the said tripping agent presents an upwardly cam-shaped surface to be engaged and tracked by the said terminal of the said release arm.

5. A coupling for miniature cars of a toy railroad train making possible the uncoupling of cars by actuation of the coupling at the roadbed of the railroad, comprising in combination, a hollow draw head projecting endwise from the car, a hooked cou ling knuckle carried at least partially within the hollow of said draw head, a vertical pivot pin anchoring said knuckle to swing horizontally in such relation to said draw head that said pivot pin withstands and transmits to said draw head the major part of the train hauling force transmitted by the coupling from car to car, and a multiple armed detent comprising an inverted U- shaped yoke of stifli wire mounted to slide in vertical bearings in said draw head including a vertically guided barrier arm of said yoke retractably located in the path of swinging movement of said knuckle about said pivot pin and in such relation thereto that only a minor portion of said car hauling force is transmitted to said barrier arm, said detent also including a vertically guided release arm of said yoke laterally spaced from said barrier arm having a liftable terminal riding below said draw head in proximity to the roadbed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 437,488 Friend Sept. 30, 1890 1,028,531 Blaettnar June 4, 1912 1,201,283 Forsyth et al. Oct. 17, 1916 1,236,149 Coventry Aug. 7, 1917 2,154,415 Price et al Apr. 11, 1936 2,261,258 Kinnear Nov. 4, 1941 2,263,959 Tyler Nov. 25, 1941 2,594,444 Joyce Apr. 29, 1952 

